


Meet Me Before The Sun Falls Down

by JulliaaWrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Battle of Hogwarts, Cursed Vaults (Hogwarts Mystery), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, MC and her friends help in Battle of Hogwarts, Merula and MC are to be married soon, they also locate the final Vault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28275489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulliaaWrites/pseuds/JulliaaWrites
Summary: Luciana and her friends participate in Battle of Hogwarts and try to locate the final Cursed Vault they couldn't find in their years at Hogwarts in which Dumbledore hid mysterious items to help them win and avenge Rowan. Can they do it before it's too late? Or will someone else get hurt in the process too?
Relationships: Merula Snyde & Original Female Character(s), Merula Snyde/Original Character(s), Merula Snyde/Original Female Character(s), Merula Snyde/You, Player Character/Merula Snyde
Kudos: 15





	1. Back Together

It has been few years since our squad, me Jacob’s sibling Luciana Smith, Merula Snyde, Penny Haywood, Ben Copper, Charlie Weasley, Bill Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, Tulip Karasu and Barnaby Lee, finished our last year at Hogwarts. We finished it without our dear friend Rowan. Few years since we formed Circle of Khanna to avenge the death of Rowan Khanna by fighting R and locating the final Cursed Vault. Few years since we failed at that mission.

A lot has changed since then. Merula and me started dating back when we were at Hogwarts. After we finished it, we moved in together and are to be married soon after Merula proposed to me on our anniversary. We both continued to improve our magical abilities and became curse breakers.

The rest of the crew was busy too. Penny decided to pursue her love for potions. Charlie went far away to research dragons. Bill recently got married to Fleur. Tonks even got married to Remus Lupin. How unexpected is that? Barnaby decided to take care of animals. Ben still is unsure where his path will take him. Tulip is who knows where. I heard Andre became famous wizard fashion designer already while Badeea continued her art. And Jae, well he is still a troublemaker. Most of us stayed in touch and still meet at least once a month.

But my brother Jacob was nowhere to be found.

However, no one was able to rest. Voldemort built an army and took over the ministry. Something is coming. Something big that no one is ready for.

But I knew I was ready for one thing and that is to fight to defeat him and finally avenge Rowan. To finally find last Cursed Vault that we haven’t been able to find. I don’t know what’s coming next but whatever that may be I know I’ll have Merula and the rest of our friends by my side.

\------------------------

One day I woke up and went to read the mail I got.

“Anything interesting?” Merula asked while making us coffee.

“Hm, seems like we got a message from Bill. I wonder what that’s about.”

Both Merula and me instantly got worried. Bill was in Order of the Phoenix. He kept us updated on all things that have been going on.

I read the text and it was just as we feared. “He is calling us to come to Hogwarts to help. Voldemort is on his way, Harry Potter is who knows where and they need as many people to help fight.”

“Okay, no way we are going in the battle’s core!”

“Merula we both said we will help! Don’t you want to help them?” I got angry.

“I do, Lucy, I really do! But I don’t want us killed either! I couldn’t stand to just stand there and watch you get murdered! Hogwarts is going to be the biggest battlefield and will have the most victims!”

“I know… but our friends will be there. We have to help them!”

She sighed, “I guess. Wherever you’re going, I’ll come with.”

“Thanks. There’s one more thing.”

She looked at me curious and confused, “what’s that?”

“Bill said Harry Potter is searching for horcuxes to destroy them so he can kill Voldemort, however, Bill thinks we need to find the final Cursed vault before they all come to Hogwarts. He reminded me of what Jacob once told me “only the final vault was real, that the others were traps and decoys”. We only have few days.”

“Is he insane? Few days to find a Vault we have been searching for years??”

“It’s almost impossible but it’s worth a shot. We are going to wait for Voldemort’s army anyway.”

“But why does he want us to find it?”

“No one knows what’s in those, maybe it will help us in the battle.”

“Or it could be something dangerous that should stay locked.”

“I want to try.”

She facepalmed but then thought about it. “Honestly, I want to find out what’s in it too. We have spent our whole Hogwarts years trying to find whatever is it in those.”

“I’m glad you want to do it too!” I smiled at her.

And with that we went to eat breakfast and start packing to go to a place where it all started.

\----------

We arrived at Hogwarts. It felt so strange being here after so long. Then again, it still felt like home.

It was amazing to see Penny, Ben and Charlie again. Others were still on their way. We had to be careful since Snape was the headmaster and the school was taken over by Death Eaters.

“Luciana!” Penny hugged me tight.

“Penny!” I hugged her back.

“We haven’t seen each other in months!”

“I know! I’ve missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too. If only we were meeting under better circumstances.”

“Yeah….”

“Do you guys think we stand a chance?” Ben asked. He seemed very worried.

“If we didn’t, would we even come here?” Merula eyerolled.

“You’ve got a point” he replied.

“Bill is waiting for us in the Forbidden Forest!” Charlie cut in.

\-------------------

We met with Bill in the Forbidden Forest. It felt so weird being back in here. Back then it was so hard to enter it, so dangerous, but now…. This forest feels so familiar. It’s almost bizarre when you think about it, that the forest Rowan was killed in feels so safe now. It’s part of Hogwarts, it brings so many memories and even thought so many horrible things happened here it is still safer to be here than in Hogwarts right now. 

“We need to get in now” Bill continued. “Does everyone remember the plan?”

We all nodded. The plan was to research the library and headmaster’s office. Do anything we can to find the Vault.

“Okay good! Merula, Lucy with me! Ben and Penny with Charlie!”

And so we sneaked into Hogwarts.

\-----------------

Merula, Bill and I were going through Snape’s office. I still can’t believe Dumbledore’s dead. The news hit us all hard. Even harder when we found out Snape was the one who did it. I mean, we all knew Snape was rude and harsh, but we thought he cared about Dumbledore.

“Ugh, this is pointless!” Merula gave up searching through papers. “Let’s go to some other place we won’t find anything here.”

“I’m worried Merula is right” Bill agreed. “We really should search somewhere else.”

“Yeah, I agree!” I agreed too. “Let’s go!”

Bill and Merula exited first and then we heard Snape coming in. I didn’t have time to exit so I hid. Merula and Bill hid in the hallway. Snape entered the room.

I was hidden there for whole 5 long minutes before Snape decided to speak, “don’t think I didn’t notice you there, Miss Smith. You aren’t really good at hiding.” He locked the doors with spell so Merula and Bill can’t enter. “And don’t think I didn’t see your friends either!”

I revealed myself and pulled my wand out. “I may be bad at hiding, but my spells improved a lot since you last saw me professor!”

“Now, is this a way to greet an old friend?” he said as he pulled out his wand. He seemed annoyed by me.

“How dare you?” I said angrily. “How dare you called me friend when you spent so many years torturing all of us students? How dare you call me friend when you killed Dumbledore?” I almost started crying remembering events when it happened.

“Seems like we are getting emotional now. You seem to judge me while not knowing anything.”

“You killed your friend!” I accused him.

“Yes, I killed Dumbledore!” he was angry. “But there is other part of that story too.”

“Oh really?” I was getting angrier by the second.

“Dumbledore was dying anyway, he asked me to do it so I could gain Voldemort’s trust and help Harry Potter!”

“And why should I trust you?”

“So stubborn, just like your brother!”

“Don’t pull my brother into this!”

He then collected himself and put down his wand, “If you don’t trust me, trust Dumbledore. With Jacob still be missing, he knew you would come searching for the final Vault since you didn’t yet find it. He left you something.”

Snape started to pull out something from his desk. It was a key with a note. I held my guard up whole time as Snape gave me the key and note. Recognizing Dumbledore’s handwriting was easy for me so I knew it was from him.

“Go find the last Vault! And don’t get caught!” he said.

“Alright. But that still doesn’t excuse all years of torture of students!” I said while he unlocked the door as I ran outside.

\-----------------

Outside were Merula and Bill trying to break in.

“SMITH!” Merula ran to me and kissed me.

“Luciana!” Bill was happy too.

“Did he hurt you?” Merula was angry, “I am going to hurt him!” she said as she started to enter before I stopped her.

“No, he actually gave me a clue Dumbledore left us for final Cursed Vault!” I explained.

They both looked at me in shock.

“He what?” Merula was the first to ask.

I showed them the key and the note. “We now have a key and a first clue of where it might be.”

“That’s great!” Bill said. “Let’s go get the others and find that Vault!”

\-----------

We met with Penny, Bill and Charlie. Tulip and Barnaby also joined us.

“Tulip! Barnaby!” Penny hugged them.

“No time for greeting!” Tulip said quickly. “Have you heard?”

“Heard what?” I asked.

“Harry Potter is in Hogwarts!” Barnaby said.

“The actual Harry Potter?” Ben asked.

“Yes!” Tulip confirmed.

“Doesn’t that mean that Voldemort is on his way over here now?” I panicked.

“Yes, he will be here any time now!” a voice said as we all turned around to see Tonks holding hands with her husband Lupin. Behind them was standing a whole Order of Phoenix.

“Tonks!” I was so happy to see her. I didn’t get a chance to talk to her in so long since she was busy protecting Harry Potter.

“Hey there Luciana!” she waved.

“Oh perfect! So we don’t have any time!” Merula was annoyed.

“Wrong!” Tulip replied, “Harry is just about to fight Snape in Great Hall!”

“What?” I panicked. “No, he can’t do that!”

I started to run to the hall while Merula ran after me, “Lucy wait!”

\------------------------

I entered the Hall just as Harry exited and McGonagall was collecting students to fight. Seems like they made Snape and Death Eaters go away. But I can’t blow Snape’s cover, so I just yelled, “Professor McGonagall!”

She turned around and smiled to see me and Merula who just arrived. “Miss Smith, Miss Snyde, it’s good to see you both coming to help us in this battle!”

“It’s good to see you too professor! It’s amazing to see Hogwarts doing so much to help the world! We had to join in!”

“Well of course! Hogwarts was always trying the most it can, and we could really use two curse breakers to help us.”

“All of our friends from Hogwarts came too as well as the Order of Phoenix. Merula, me and my friends are going to find the last Vault! We, as well as Dumbledore used to, believe there is something that can help us win.”

“Well you better hurry then! We will try to keep them out as long as we can.”

“Thank you, professor!” I said as Merula and me ran outside back to our friends.

\-----------------

It felt nice to see all my friends here at Hogwarts again, if only it was for a happy event. We really should meet up again after the war, walk around, have a chat with professors, just catch up and be together like in the old times.

“So what could this note mean?” I asked.

“Let me read it out loud!” Tonks said “It says here:  
‘There’s a Vault here hidden deep  
Many secrets does it keep  
For one a powerful branch by oak tree  
To defeat the enemy must it be  
Two all the evidence that will be needed  
To avenge a friend who bleeded  
Final, an item of dark power  
That must be destroyed in the earliest hour  
Can’t fall into the wrong hands  
Can only be handled by your pure intended plans  
To make it easy map on the back  
So sooner you’ll be ready to attack

From A. P. W. B. D. to L.S.  
’”

“Okay so first sentence is obvious, the Vault is somewhere deep in the castle” Bill started.

“’For one a powerful branch by oak tree, To defeat the enemy must it be’, could it be a wand?” I asked.

“It must be!” Merula confirmed.

“But who would the enemy be?” Tulip asked. “Voldemort?”

“Or Rakepick!” Merula said angrily remembering her name. “Dumbledore said Harry must defeat Voldemort and our enemy is Patricia so it must be to defeat her!”

“Merula’s right, it must be to defeat Rakepick!” I agreed.

“Okay so next is ‘Two all the evidence that will be needed to avenge a friend who bleeded’, that doesn’t make any sense” Penny said. “What kind of evidence could we need to avenge Rowan?”

“Evidence that Rakepick was part of R” Ben said. We all turned around.

“You’re right! We weren’t able to prove to Ministry that she was, now we can put her to Azkaban!” Tonks got happy.

“’ Final, an item of dark power that must be destroyed in the earliest hour’” Charlie said. “So something we need to destroy in the morning at early time?”

“Or something we need to destroy as soon as possible” Tulip pointed out.

“’Can’t fall into the wrong hands can only be handled by your pure intended plans’. We are the only ones who can take it and be trusted enough that we won’t use it but will destroy I instead” I’ve said. Then I turned around the message, “Revelio!”, the map showed up.

I turned around to my friends, “let’s go find that final Cursed Vault!”


	2. The Curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew goes to find the last Cursed Vault just as The Battle of Hogwarts begun.

We continued to follow the map. We heard a lot of noise coming from everywhere. Voldemort must have arrived with his army. But so far, no damages were done to the part of the castle we were in, McGonagall must have put a shield.

We came to Slytherin common room and entered. Luckily no one was in there. “This is it” I’ve said.

“Are you saying the final Cursed Vault was in front of my nose the whole time?” Merula was kinda annoyed at that fact.

“A hallway leading to it, yes” I laughed.

“Let’s just go in” she said as she took my hand. We opened the gate.

We were about to enter before Tonks stopped us. “I think you’ll have to go on this one without me. I feel like I need to help my husband and his friends over there.”

“Of course!” I hugged her. “Stay safe, Tonks!”

“Always!” she smiled.

“We will meet with you when we are done!” Penny said.

“Gotta get butterbeer after we win this thing!” I added.

“I’ll keep your word for it, Lucy!” she smiled as she left. Again, I can’t wait to catch up with her. We didn’t get to speak much after her wedding, I wonder how everything went down for her.

Merula turned to me, “please stay next to me the whole time.”

“Of course!” I said. “No matter what we bump into there, I’ll always have your back!”

“I love you, Smith!”

“Love you too, Merula!”

And then we entered the final Cursed vault.

That was the moment I woke up. I woke up….

“Luciana! Pst Luciana!” Rowan was trying to wake me up.

“Hm? Rowan is that you?” I was so confused and tired.

“Yes, you fell asleep in Snape’s class again. He gave you a big detention this time.”

“Wait what?” I finally got up and realized I was in Potion’s classroom with Rowan and Merula next to me as well as our whole class and Snape who was looking at me angrily.

“I’ve told you not to stay up whole night searching for Cursed Vaults but who would listen to Rowan…” she was whispering annoyed.

“Rowan, how are you alive? Where am I?” I started to freak out. It can’t all have been a dream, right? So much has happened.

However, would it be that bad if it was a dream? Rowan is alive! I am so happy to see her alive again. It’s all okay again. I can take care to not make mistakes I made again.

But Merula and me aren’t getting married. No one accomplished what we did, Harry Potter still didn’t even get to Hogwarts let alone found the horcuxes.

Was it all a dream? Maybe a warning? Or maybe I went back in time? Maybe I need to fix something? What if I have to start over? I couldn’t stand going back to not being as close with my friends and Merula.

“Well what else would one expect from the worst student at Hogwarts?” Merula laughed.

“Ouch, that’s harsh!” I got angry.

“Since when do you pay attention to anything I am saying?” she was surprised.

“I always pay attention to what you are saying!” I said angrily and left the class. Everyone was confused.

Rowan went after me. “How about we go to Hogsmade and get some butterbeer?”

“Yes please! I’m having a really rough day.”

\---------------

“So what was that all about?” Rowan asked me when we sat down.

“If I tell you, you’ll think I’m insane.”

“You know you can tell me anything” she reassured me.

I took a deep breath. I knew I could tell Rowan anything. However, I myself wasn’t sure what happened so I didn’t know how to explain it to her. I told her what I knew.

“She looked at me annoyed, “is this one of yours and Tonks’ pranks?”

“What? No! This is real!”

“Luciana that’s not possible!” she said, then paused. “Wait do you have a crush on Merula?”

“That’s not the point right now!”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Can we go back to travelling back in time thing?”

“You have a crush on me?” a voice behind me said.

We turned around to see Merula coming to our table. She was shocked. Great, just what I needed.

“I couldn’t help to overhear. I mean I know I’m the most powerful witch at Hogwarts, but I didn’t know you agreed.”

“What are you doing here Merula?” I asked.

“Uh… I was just spying on you, I totally wouldn’t go and check if you’re okay, you seemed weird today and talked about going back in time, so I want in on the adventure.”

“Riiight…” I groaned, “okay, fine! I’ll fill you in on what happened?”

“Wait Luciana” Rowan interrupted, “are you sure you want to trust Merula? Let’s say what you’re saying is real, this isn’t Merula from many years in the future but her old annoying self.”

“Hey!” Merula got angry.

“Yes, I’m sure! Don’t worry, Rowan.”

Then I proceeded to tell Merula everything. Her face was standing still when I retold the story, but I managed to notice a quick smile she got after I’ve said we were getting married.

She started to laugh. “Pft! Ha, I get married to you?”

“Did you not get any of the battle of Hogwarts, going back in time, ROWAN DYING?! Also, what year is this even, didn’t we already go on few dates?”

“I mean.. we did. I guess I just can’t believe I’ll actually end up with my crush. I thought you wouldn’t be able to bear with me for that long.”

“You went on a WHAT?” Rowan was shocked.

“Merula don’t say that!” I replied. “You’re an amazing person and I’ve told you many times I like you too! I know we fought a lot at the beginning, but I still care about you and we will work it out through time and not fight anymore.”

She smiled.

“Hello?” Rowan said. “Can somebody acknowledge my existence? I remember you two were together at Celestial ball. What were the other dates?”

“Right! Valentine’s day… it was.. interesting. Everyone forgot about it except two of us and later we went to meet in secret during night. Also, our first official date also went… interesting so we ended up watching the stars together.”

“Remind me to talk more to you about your love life and to hear the stories about you sneaking out at night with your crush!”

“Deal!” I laughed.

“Anyway back to important part” Rowan said, “WHAT DID YOU SAY HAPPENS TO ME?”

I got sad. “I’m sorry, Rowan.”

Both her and Merula got sad too. “How?” Rowan asks.

“You save Ben from being killed.”

“Oh.. at least it was for him.”

“Yeah….”

We drank our butterbeers in silence.

After some time, I finally spoke again, “so how do we get me back?”

Rowan thought for a bit, “we need to figure out how did you get here. Was it time travel?”

“We also need to figure out did she come back forever in the past or can she come back” Merula added.

I thought, “but wait!”

“Yes?”

“That painting was never in The Three Broomsticks!”

“What do you mean, Luciana?” Rowan was confused. Then her expression got darker, “that painting was always there.”

“Lucy…” Merula’s voice was heard calling me, it was quiet and distant.

I turned around to see she was right next to me, “did you say something?”

“No? Smith, you are going crazy!”

“What if I’m not in the past…”

“Lucy!” this time the voice was louder.

“Luciana, of course you are! There is no other explanation!” Rowan said.

“What if this is all just in my head… THIS is a dream!” I said loudly and confidently.

“LUCY!” the voice was now loud and clear. Everything started to fall apart on me until the whole roof fell.

\-------------------------------------

I woke up inside The Vault in Merula’s army.

“She’s waking up!” Bill pointed out.

“LUCY!” Merula gave me a kiss. “I was SO WORRIED!”

“What happened?” I was confused.

“Seems like this Vault makes you fall asleep and go back in time” Penny said.

“Yeah, we all couldn’t wake up until we figured it was all a dream” Charlie explained.

“You were sleeping the longest, you scared me!” Merula said.

“Turns out this Vault makes you think you can fix your past mistakes, like for example making sure Rowan stays alive so it tries to trap you in a never ending dream!” Tulip explained.

“Well that would explain that person sleeping over there” Ben was scared.

“Wait which person?” I asked and we all turned around to see Jacob. “JACOB!”

We went to him and tried to wake him up.

“It’s not working…” Barnaby said.

“It didn’t work on Luciana either. We can’t wake him up unless he figures it out first.”

“Great! If he couldn’t figure it out for years, what luck do we have in waking him up?” Merula said.

“Maybe we can try to call him like you did with me? It sure helped me realize it was a dream.”

“But you were probably already catching on.”

“It’s worth a try.”

“Poor guy” Penny said, “who knows what he regrets so much that he stayed in the so called past to fix everything.”

“Yeah… who knows” I replied. I wonder why Jacob stayed in the past and didn’t try to come back to future.

We tried to wake him up, no response. We kept trying until half an hour passed and he finally was starting to wake up.

As soon as he opened his eyes, I hugged him. “Jacob!”

“Lucy?” he was confused. “Where am I?”

We proceeded to explain everything to him.

\------------------------------

The Battle of Hogwarts was happening on the outside. Everything at once. Voldemort arrived. But not only him. Someone else came too. It was no other but Patricia Raepick. She came back to get the Vault before Hogwarts falls.

But there was something she didn’t know either. Whole R came.

\------------------------

“Wait so everything that happened back then was a dream?” Jacob asked.

“Well yeah…” Tulip said.

“Why did you stay?” I asked. “We couldn’t find you, I thought something happened to you!”

“Well…. I actually stayed because of you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, back there I could stop myself from opening the Vaults. I didn’t destroy our lives. You never had to spend all Hogwarts years searching for me and the Vaults, you never messed with R or got in trouble. Your friend was still alive.”

“Oh Jacob…” I got sad. “You didn’t ruin our lives. Sure, it was hard when you disappeared and Rowan died and we did get into a lot of danger, but I also met my friends that way. It’s why I became a curse breaker and helped so many people later on.”

Our meeting was interrupted, “Oh would you look how cute is that? Whole family reunion!” Patricia said.

“Patricia!” Jacob got angry.

“Jacob” she said coldly.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came back to gain the reward of the last Vault, immortality.”

“Immortality?” we all were shocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you like the story so far? Let me know in the comments :)


	3. R's return

“Yes, immortality. Why do you think R was after the last Cursed Vault?” Rakepick was annoyed.

“They think Philosopher’s stone is in it?” I was confused. “But that’s impossible. The stone was with Harry Potter in our last year!”

“And we believe Dumbledore brought it back in” we turned around to see a group of mystery people, their faces covered.

“R….” I was shocked to say the least. We can’t fight them, we can’t fight R. Especially not now, we need to help Harry Potter defeat Voldemort!

“Step away, let us take what’s in the Vault and we won’t hurt you” mysterious witch said.

“Never!” I said and pulled my wand out. All of my friends did too.

“Flipendo!” I said.

“Bombarda!” she attacked me back.

“Protego!” Merula saved me.

“Expelliarmus!” Bill and the rest joined.

“Depulso!” “Incendio!” “Confringo!” “Stupefy!” “Obscuro!” The battle went on for what seemed like ages.

“Crucio!” the mystery witch said in Merula’s direction. She fell down in pain.

“No!” I yelled, “Crucio!” I wasn’t thinking. The only thing I wanted was to save Merula, I didn’t plan to use the unforgivable curse, but it was too late now. I very soon stopped myself and ran to Merula.

“Merula! Are you okay?”

“Yeah” she smiled. “You used Crucio curse to save me. I am so proud of you!”

“That’s not really something good, we aren’t allowed to use those.”

“But you saved me fast, that’s what matters.”

“Yeah” I gave her a quick kiss. “Can you stand up?”

“Yes, let’s finish them!”

The battle continued. It was going on for too long, I needed to do something.

I turned around to Bill, “distract them! Don’t let them notice I am gone.”

“Got it!” he nodded and started to cast more spells.

I pulled Merula, Penny and Ben. “We started all of this, let’s end it. Follow me.”

We quickly ran to grab the stone and we managed to do so. I quickly gave Merula the wand and Penny the evidence. But we didn’t go unnoticed.

Whole R and Rakepick started to run after us as we ran into the hallway, unsure where to go to destroy the rock so fast.

“Are we sure we are going to destroy the rock?” Merula asked as we ran.

“Yes, we have to!” I replied.

“Merula is right, it is very powerful. We could use it against them and in the future!” Penny agreed with Merula.

“No! Dumbledore said we have to destroy it so we will!”

“I agree with Luciana!” Ben said. “We can’t disobey him.”

“We can’t let it fall into the wrong hands.” I said determined.

“Ugh, I guess you’re right, that would be bad” Merula agreed.

We stopped to fight them. The rest of our friends also caught up.

“We always knew Dumbledore had evidence against us” mystery woman said, “but we didn’t know it was that much” she said as she pointed towards papers and pictures Penny was holding. “Now give it to us!”

“Never!”

“You all are wrong!” Rakepick said, “those items belong to me!” She was angry, “I’m the one who worked for you! Who did all your dirty job! I deserve immortality and the wand!”

“You were just a pawn in our game!”

“How dare you after everything I did?!”

“Patricia” Jacob cut in, “we were all played. I’ve told you, they just used us!”

“And what now you want me to apologize? To say oh yes Jacob you were right all along, you’re so smart” she was mockingly sarcastic. “No! I will take what belongs to me no matter what!”

“Well she was definitely a Slytherin” Charlie whispered.

“Then I’ll have to stop you” Jacob pulled out his wand.

“And we need to stop both of you!” R said.

I turned to Merula, Penny and Ben. “This is our opportunity, RUN!”

______________

We came to the hall where everyone was gathered.

“Professor McGonagall!” I stopped her.

“Oh, dear, have you found what you have been looking for?”

“Yes, now we need to destroy it. Do you happen to know where Tonks and Remus are?”

She stopped and looked at me sadly. “Luciana…. I’m sorry.”

“WHAT?” this can’t be happening, “what do you mean professor? Where are they?”

“Lucy?” Merula said terrified as she put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Tonks and Remus just laying there, holding hands.

“No…” I said quietly.

“Nymphadora” Penny started to cry in Ben’s shoulder.

“TONKS! NO! NO!” I started yelling as Merula pulled me from going to them. “NO THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! SHE HAD SO MUCH LEFT TO DO! AND HER KID! NOOO!”

“Shhh!” Merula tried to calm me down as she hugged me, “it’s okay. Take deep breaths, it’s all going to be okay.”

I started to cry, we all did. But then we heard noise coming from the hallway.

“Lucy, we have to go” Merula said sadly.

“I know.” I took her hand and started to go with tears in my eyes and hole in my heart.

“Penny take the papers to safety!” was the last thing I’ve said before Merula and I left to Astronomy tower.

_______________________

We got there, but something was off. “There’s something wrong with this place.”

“Tell me about it!”

“No, Merula! I don’t think we should go up!”

Suddenly we heard voices and hid. It was both from Voldemort and Snape as well as Harry, Hermoine and Ron.

There was something wrong. It seemed like Voldemort killed Snape.

I started to cry. Not more victims, this battle is going on for too long.

Harry and his squad left so we went up and saw Snape there. I hugged Merula.

“So how do we destroy this rock?” she asked crying.

“I know a spell” I took a wand from Merula’s hands. “There was this random spell written on the map, I wasn’t sure what it was for but now I know.”  
“At least something to make this easier!”  
“Yeah!”

I casted a spell and destroyed the rock. The only way to achieve immortality, one of the most important stones in history, gone with just one spell from an auror.

“It’s gone! We did it!” I said happily.

“Great! Let’s go get the others and destroy R once and for all!”


	4. The Final Countdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twists, secrets that were kept and finale of the Battle of Hogwarts. How will Luciana handle all of that? Can she trust everyone around her?

Merula and me met with others. They were still fighting with dark witches from R.

“Where is Penny?” I approached Barnaby.  
“Wasn’t she with you?”  
“No?”  
“Wait where are Jacob and Rakepick?” Merula was confused.  
“They were going after you to get the evidence against Rakepick!”  
Merula and me looked at each other terrified. “Oh no!” I yelled.

_______________________________

We passed down the hall and stopped when we saw Bill crying. I froze at the spot. Where is Charlie? Where are other of his family members? Did someone get hurt? Or worse…..

We came to them and saw Fred laying there.  
“Oh no!” Merula gasped.  
“I am so sorry!” I turned to Bill and gave him a quick hug.

I met him few times. He was such a joy to be around. I couldn’t process what happened.  
“We have to go” Merula said through tears.  
“I know. I’m sorry, Bill, Charlie…”  
“It’s okay. Go, stop R” Charlie was barely able to make a sound.

And so we left.

___________________________

After what felt like forever, we found Penny, Ben and Jacob. Penny and Ben were still crying, there were no papers to be found.

“Guys!”  
“Luciana! Merula! Did you destroy the stone?” Jacob asked.  
“Yeah.” I replied.  
“Where are the papers?” Merula asked.  
“She took them” Penny was barely heard. “She took them and left.”  
“Even worse” Ben cut in, “Harry Potter went to sacrifice himself to Voldemort and Rakepick is going to make sure he dies so Voldemort wins as a revenge to us!”  
“WHAT?!” both Merula and me were shocked.  
“We need to stop her!” I yelled as we started to run towards the Forbidden Forest.

_______________________

We entered the Forbidden forest and saw Rakepick running in full speed.

“Bombarda!” I yelled as Rakepick fell down from explosion next to her.  
“Not you two again!” she eyerolled.  
“We won’t let you destroy whole world!”  
“Oh really and how will you stop me?”  
“Flipen-“ I was about to say when I was interrupted by a wand pointed to my head.

It was Merula. “Not so fast Lucy!”  
“Merula?” I turned around in shock. “What are you doing? We are just about to stop Rakepick!”  
“Oh this will be good” Rakepick said.  
“Give me your wand!” Merula was determined.  
“What? No! Merula what’s wrong with you?”

“Don’t you know she is with us?” dark witch from R revealed herself from the dark.  
I turned around to Merula in tears. “I thought you have left R long time ago!”  
“I lied. I never was a double agent, never tried to help you, I was always on R’s side. I had to pretend I quit so no one would bother me.”  
“But… we are getting married soon. Don’t you love me?”  
“I do, Lucy! I really do! But this is something that has to be done!”  
“Why?”  
“Because I have to! I have to prove I’m the most powerful witch there is. And there is only one way to achieve that. I would do anything to get there!”  
“No, I know you! You would never do this to me!” I cried.  
“Well I did. Now give me the wand!” she said more strictly.

I had no choice but to give her my wand. But I didn’t care about the wand. I didn’t care about anything at this point but the undeniable pain in my heart from being lied to by the person I love the most.

“Good. I don’t want to hurt you” she got sad, “I hope you’ll understand this is something I have to do. I still love you!”  
“I love you too but what you’re doing is wrong! You’ll get so many people killed! Especially people who aren’t purebloods! People like me!”  
“R needs to get what they wanted from beginning. Muggleborns will be just fine.”

“Wait” I turned around to the dark witch and Rakepick, “Why are you helping Rakepick?”  
“She also was with us!” the witch said, “never really left.”  
“Is there anyone here who hasn’t lied to me!” I just couldn’t believe it. And there was nothing I could do at this point. 

I just broke down crying as they started to leave. Merula looked at me sadly.  
“I hope you know” I turned to her, “I still love you, and I hope you’ll understand why I had to do this.”

“What?” she was confused as I jumped on her and ripped out my wand from her hand.  
“Expelliarmus!” her wand flew away.  
“LUCY NO!” she yelled, “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!”

R and Rakepick were long gone to help Voldemort but Merula still whispered, “just trust me on this one!”  
“YOU WORKED WITH R WHOLE TIME!”  
“FOR A GOOD REASON!” she said as she picked up her wand.  
“Then tell me!” I was desperate. I wanted to believe Merula did nothing wrong so badly, but it was so hard.  
“I can’t! Not right now! It’s a long story!”  
“Okay, let’s say you’ll explain it later. Then let’s go now to stop Harry from being killed!”  
“No!” she stopped me. “He has to die!”  
“He is our only hope to win this war and not fall into darkness forever!”  
“I can’t let you stop it!”  
“I’ll duel you Merula! Get out of my way! I have to save the world!”  
“Then duel me, Lucy! I was never afraid of a little battle.”

Her words hit like an arrow. I can’t battle my fiancée! But apparently I don’t have any other options if I want to stop them before killing Harry.

“Incendio!” I started the battle.  
“You started strong! Rictusempra!” Merula said.  
I know Merula and if I was anyone else, she definitely wouldn’t use some ordinary tickle spell in a duel. But as much as I loved her, I couldn’t let it all happen.  
“And you’re going slow. Flipendo!”  
“Protego!” she protected herself. “So predictable. Smith, you really use Flipendo too much.”  
“Well it’s effective.”  
“Sure. Bombarda!” she said.  
I fell down but quickly casted, “Immobulus!”  
“NO!” she yelled as she couldn’t make a single move.

I started to run after R and Rakepick. Merula quickly started to follow me once the spell’s effect wore down.

But when we got there…. Harry Potter was already dead. They were carrying him to the castle. We hid.

When they left I turned to Merula. “You better have a REALLY good explanation for this!”  
“I do! I had to keep you busy so you wouldn’t stop it. It was him.”  
“What does that mean? ‘It was him’?”  
“Harry, he was horcux.”  
“Wait he was a horcux?!” all this information keeps on shocking me.  
“Okay look. See this? Do you know what it is?” Merula pulled out a bottle.  
“Veritaserum, makes you tell the truth.”  
“Exactly!” she drank the whole bottle. “I never would betray you. You mean the whole world to me! I did leave R back then and was a real double agent” she started. “Months ago, before Dumbledore died, I was visiting Hogwarts, as you know.”  
“Yeah” I nodded.

“Well I overheard him talk about how Harry has to die. He basically raised him to die!” she was angry and a tear dropped her eyes.  
“That’s terrible!” I was angry too. I came closer to Merula as if to hug her but then I stopped to hear the rest of the story.  
“So I couldn’t let that happen! But I didn’t know how to tell this to anyone, they maybe wouldn’t trust me! However, you would trust me! But I didn’t tell you because I thought of a dangerous plan. You would stop me and we wouldn’t be able to save Harry Potter.”  
“What do you mean? What plan?”  
“When I was with R I heard they were planning to steal Resurrection stone. I couldn’t find it in Dumbledore’s office so I assumed the took it. Later, I found out I was right.”  
“And you decided to join them back?”  
“Yeah” she said awkwardly. “I joined them back, made them believe I was their double agent all along and stole the stone which I later left in the forest for Harry to find.”  
“It is very unlikely he found it if you left it just anywhere in the forest, you know that?”  
“I know. That’s why I included Torvus who made sure he finds it. And if he did, that means Harry isn’t really dead!”  
“Merula that’s amazing!” I got happy.  
“Thanks!” she smiled.

“I didn’t yet tell them I’m not part of R because I had to let them make sure Harry dies so we can defeat Voldemort and not have them stop him.”  
“I’m still hurt that you didn’t tell me. We could have thought of something less dangerous.”  
“I know. I’m really sorry, Lucy. I wanted to tell you so many times. Is there any way you can forgive me?”  
I took a deep breath. “Yes, Merula I can forgive you. But you have to promise me that you will never keep a secret from me again, okay? Especially not something this dangerous! No matter if it’s bad and I would stop you, I would rather tell me so we can work it out together and not you having to do everything by yourself to protect me and the world, okay?”  
“Yeah, I promise!”

I smiled and kissed her. I was so glad she actually wasn’t bad and didn’t betray me. I was also glad that something like this won’t repeat again. If I knew anything about Merula from our time living together that is that she always kept all of her promises. Even thought some of them required a lot of effort over years.

After some time, we broke down the kiss. “Let’s go win this war!” Merula happily said.

_________________________________________

We arrived at Hogwarts. Everyone was crying about Harry being dead.

Voldemort said he is taking people to his side.  
Draco Malfoy, the kid we met so long ago, has joined first. However, it didn’t surprise us much.  
Suddenly, Neville Longbottom stepped out. I was shocked to say the least. He started to go on a really beautiful speech about how we will still fight. Then Harry got up. All were shocked, Merula and me just hugged from happiness.

But then the battle continued.

__________________________

Merula and me found ourselves in Hogwarts hallways. We were stopped by the voice, “well done Merula!” the dark witch said. “Now hand us Luciana Smith, just as you promised so long ago.” Rakepick was standing next to her.  
Merula started to laugh. “You really think I would betray the person I love the most?” She pulled out her wand, “how dumb can one be?”  
“How dare you trick us! You don’t know how powerful we are!” there was pure rage and anger in her eyes.  
“Oh, trust me I do! You’re the ones who don’t know who you’re dealing with!”

Me and Rakepick pulled out our wands too.  
“Flipendo!” I yelled.  
“Protego!” Rakepick laughed. “I was your teacher, Luciana! You really think I don’t know how you fight?”  
“Incarcerous!” I yelled.  
“Now you’re using spells I taught you? How pathetic!”

“Incendio!” Merula and the dark witch were having a duel too.  
“Expelliarmus!” Merula managed to throw her wand away.

It got Rakepick mad. “Curcio!” she casted at me.  
“Not again” Merula said as I fell to the floor in pain. “Bombarda!” she threw an explosion next to Rakepick almost hitting her which made her fall down.  
“Agh!” she was angry. “Well done, Snyde, looks like you got a lot better since last time I fought you.”  
“Oh you would be surprised!” she angrily said as she helped me get back up. “Are you okay?”  
“Yeah” I was still in pain but thanks to Merula it only lasted shortly. “Thank you!”

“Expelliarmus!” both the witch and Rakepick said and Merula’s and mine wands flew to the floor.  
“Damit!” I said. 

Suddenly everything happened so fast.

“Well looks like this ends now!” Rakepick said with pleasure as she turned towards me, “Avada Kadeva!”  
She casted as Merula jumped in my direction getting us both to fall to the floor.  
“Incarcerous!”  
I was alive and perfectly okay which can only mean, “MERULA!”

“MERULA!” I yelled again.

She raised her head, “It’s okay! I’m alive! It’s all alright!”  
I was SO RELIEVED! I couldn’t help but to kiss her right then. “You saved me! Thank you!” I said between the kisses.  
“Well of course I did! I couldn’t let her hurt you!”  
“I love you! You could have died!”  
“You could have died too!” she replied then added, “and I love you too!”

We kissed again.

Suddenly we broke the kiss realizing Rakepick and the witch are still there. We turned around and saw them tied up. It was our friends, they came and tied them up.

“You done over there?” Tulip joked.  
“Sorry, we got caught up in the moment” I awkwardly said as Merula and me started to get up.  
“We capture the rest of R!” Barnaby couldn’t wait to tell us.  
“Really?” I was happy. “That’s amazing!”  
“And now these two are also being taken care of!” Tulip happily said while holding angry Rakepick.  
“And I’ll take that!” Penny said as she took the evidence from Rakepick’s pocket.

“GUYS!” Liz rushed in. “You need to come outside! Harry Potter has just defeated Voldemort! I repeat Harry Potter has just defeated Voldemort!”  
“Wait for real?” I was happy. “Let’s go!”

We all ran outside.

_______________________

“We won!” I exclaimed.  
“It’s finally over! The war is finally over!” Merula joined in on celebrating.  
“And we have defeated R!” Penny added.  
“And have evidence to put Rakepick to Azkaban too!” Ben added too.  
“This is amazing!” I said.

Merula and me kissed again. 

_______________________

The battle may have been long. There were many loses, and to be honest we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. Especially not back then when I was 10 years old and started my first year at Hogwarts. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I have an amazing fiancée and great friends! However, the loses will forever cause pain in our hearts. We can only hope that with time it’ll be easier to handle that. At least everything is finally okay again. The battle saved us, if we didn’t put up a fight, we may have ended up in a world full of darkness.

Merula and me decided to get married as soon as possible. We didn’t want to waste a single second anymore. Not after everything happened.

So when the day finally came I was so ready to say, “I do!”.  
“And do you, Merula Snyde, take Luciana Smith to be your wife? In health and death, in good and bad?”  
“I do!” she happily said.  
“You may now kiss!”  
We kissed and everyone cheered. It was the happiest day of my life, getting married to the love of my life surrounded by my friends and family. I wouldn’t change it for a thing.

I don’t regret anything and am proud of how far we all got. Maybe now we will find peace in this world of happiness and good magic. No more dark wizards, no more Death Eaters, no more R, no more Voldemort. I can only hope that all of my friends and family will find love and happiness like I did. We will hang out more from now on. And honestly, I can’t wait to see what adventures we all will get ourselves into next!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like the story? Let me know what was your favourite part in the comments? :D


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